Lawn bowling is a game played on a rink within a green. There are usually eight rinks on each green. The rinks are numbered one through eight, with boundaries defined by a black stripe on each side of the rink number.
To play lawn bowling, participants roll each of their bowls as close as possible to a single small white ball called a jack or kitty. Bowls may hit the jack, but the jack must remain within the boundary markers of the rink or the end will be declared “dead.” Bowls are likely to hit other bowls, and may propel them into a position that is perhaps nearer to the jack, or perhaps to a distant position outside the boundary marker line that will take them out of play.
Games are played between opposing teams of one to four players. After all members of each team have rolled a set of bowls, which marks the completion of an “end,” the bowl closest to the jack counts one point for its team, and every other bowl belonging to that same team that is closer to the jack than the nearest one of the competitors' counts one additional point. Specialized measuring devices are used to measure the distances between the bowls and the jack, and a game is made up of a series of completed ends.
Bocce is a form of lawn bowling that originated in Italy. Bocce is one of the oldest of all lawn bowling games, and is becoming increasingly popular throughout the world because it can be played by people of all ages and on a great variety of surfaces. Bocce is played between teams of one to four players. Bocce is played with a target ball called a jack or pallino, and eight large bocce balls, including four of one color and four of another color. Players seek to place their bocce balls nearer to the target jack than their opponent or displace the opponent's bocce ball and so improve the position of their bocce ball in relation to the pallino. Like lawn bowling, specialized measuring devices are used to measure the distances between the bocce balls and the pallino.
Petanque is yet another form a lawn bowling that is played between teams of two or three players. Each team has six balls. A coin toss determines the starting team. A starting player from the starting team selects a starting point by marking a half-meter diameter circle. The starting player throws the target ball, known as the cochonnet or jack, at least six meters, and no more than ten meters, in any direction. A member of the starting team (usually but not necessarily the starting player) now bowls, attempting to get as close as possible to the jack. Play next passes to the players of the opposing team, who bowl until one of their balls has been placed closer to the target than the opposing team's ball or all their balls are bowled. Teams continue alternating turns until no balls remain. As in all variations of lawn bowling, only one team can score in a round—the team that has one of its balls closest to the target. That team gets a point for each ball that is closer to the target than any of the balls of the opposing team. There is a maximum of six points per round. A player can score by knocking an opponent's ball out of scoring position, or by moving the target with a shot, thereby placing it closer to his/her team's balls. If the target is knocked out of the playing area, the round must be re-started. However, if the target is knocked out by a team's last ball, the other team is awarded one point for each of its remaining balls. The team first to reach a specified number of points is the winner. As with other forms of lawn bowling, specialized measuring devices are used to measure the distances between the balls and the cochonnet.
And so in all forms of lawn bowling, special measuring devices are employed for measuring the distances between balls and targets, or jacks, and skilled artisans have devised numerous specialized measuring devices for this purpose. Although known existing measuring devices are adequate, they are difficult to construct, not entirely accurate, and expensive, thus necessitating certain new and useful improvements in the art.